Tag Archives: Octopus Facts

THE OCTOPUS: MARINE BAGPIPES FILLED WITH INK

Few people know that, by international law, it is unlawful to fail to be fascinated by Octopuses… Octopi… Octopodes… Octopotomi… Whatever. For a learned dissertation on the correct plural form for these creatures – bear with me, there are strict rules that apply here – you’ll find out the right way atTHE PLURAL OF OCTOPUS. I won’t go into it all now, because it’s time to showcase some more wonderful underwater photography by Melinda Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba. Strictly, these are not Abacos Octos, but they share the same reef system and are therefore close cousins. Of such tenuous links are blog posts formed.

My favourite octopus photo

Settling down to a take-away

The all-seeing eye…

On the move… so long suckers!

Octopus InkAll photos: Melinda Riger

The Rare Scottish Tartan Octopus

SAD POST SCRIPT: As a Scot out of Norway (did you ever?) my father learnt to play the bagpipes. Indeed had a set. They lived in a cellar I wasn’t allowed into. The bag was allegedly preserved in treacle (don’t ask). I still have the ‘Chanter’ (a single pipe practice instrument), the sound of which is akin to trying to strangle one cat with another cat. I was fobbed off with that. Then one day as a treat the cellar was unlocked and a large wooden box was dragged out. The bagpipes! The lid was opened and… OMG! the bag had rotted away completely, the pipes looked pathetic and very disappointing, and the whole thing stank of nameless dead creatures… I can’t hear the sound of the pipes to this day without finding it (a) stirring yet (b) enough after a short time and (c ) a reminder of a broken dream… The end.

THE PLURAL OF ‘OCTOPUS’ & RELATED CEPHALOPOD MYSTERIES…

The correct plural of ‘octopus’ is a singular mystery wrapped in tentacles and hidden beneath a rock. Shall we have the grammatical discourse first, or save it for later? Let’s have some octopi octopuses octopodes to look at first… [oh, and it’s definitely not ‘octopussies’, not even for 007]

An octopus courtesy of underwater photographer Melinda Riger, who with her husband Fred runsGRAND BAHAMA SCUBA

12 TASTY OCTOPUS FACTS TO ASTOUND YOUR FAMILY & FRIENDS

Their 8 ‘arms’ come in pairs ( the back two act more like legs) and they are bilaterally symmetric

Their beak is hard, but they have no internal or external skeleton (so they can squeeze into tight crannies)

They paralyse their prospective meals with saliva from their beak; or drill holes in molluscs, stun them with venom and rip them out

There’s much debate about this comparatively unimportant question. Not even an octopus would care. The viable candidates are: octopuses; octopodes; and octopi. Since all are in common usage, none is ‘wrong’, though some are more correct than others…

1. OCTOPUSES An anglicised grammatical progression of a latin-sounding word to a logical plural, similar to ‘virus’ and viruses’. Only an extreme pedant would want to argue for ‘viri’ or ‘virii’. Similarly with bonus: “We all got boni for Christmas”. No, you didn’t. They were bonuses.

2. OCTOPODES the origin of ‘octopus’ is a Greek word ὀκτάπους, later latinised. The correct plural in Athens would have been ‘octopodes’. It is not derived from a 2nd declension latin noun, as often assumed, in which case the plural might indeed be ‘octopi’ (cf annus / anni; year / years). Using this etymologically accurate form in conversation might lead to a lonely life as people begin to move away from you. But you would still be in the right, if that matters to you so much…

3. OCTOPI see above. In a picky world, this is the least correct of the 3, being a pluralisation based on the wrong root origin (i.e. on latin, not greek), and therefore etymologically unsound. In practice, it’s quick and easy, and everyone knows what you mean, which is largely the point of language, I guess. Personally, I’d use octopuses if I ever used the word.

SUMMARY2 is the most technically correct, and also the most likely to get you chucked off the side of the boat. Fully clothed. 1 is a logically correct anglicisation. 3 is a technically incorrect form, but long usage has made it acceptable to all but verbal Luddites. Push them off the boat too.

If you bothered to plough through that, you deserve some quality recreation. Even if you gave up in despair, you deserve these 2 videos (both taken in the Bahamas), which show the incredible way that these creatures move. Those who have never seen a live octopus will be amazed at their bodily transformations. If you only have time for one, see the top one – professionally done, and shorter. The lower one is a good amateur video, with a certain amount of diver heavy breathing and gurgling.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKAIzFEo75M]

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/13280607]

ADDENDUMThis was never going to be easy! What about ‘cactus / cacti’, do I hear? Yes, cactus was known to Greeks as κάκτος (kaktos); but it was equally known to the Romans as ‘cactus’, not as a word that had to be imported by them from the Greeks and adapted. So the word’s root is as much latin as greek. No doubt that explains similar latin-origin ‘i’ plurals such as alumnus / alumni and stimulus / stimuli.